The Toronto Raptors have one of the highest-paid starting lineups in all of sports

BarDown Staff

Demar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry during a 2017-18 regular season game. , Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

Believe or not, the Toronto Raptors have one of the highest paid starting lineups in all of sports.

Sportingintelligence recently published their annual sports salaries survey, the 8^th one they have completed. The survey tracks the ‘first-team pay’ of every professional sports team in the world and is “the most useful metric for measuring different teams across sports and throughout the world,” according to its website. With the rise of NBA salaries, it’s hardly a surprise to see that eight of its teams managed to crack the top-12. The Toronto Raptors have the 11^th highest average salary per player with $7,853,384 ($151,027/week).

The following list was found at BroBible:

12. Detroit Pistons, $7,851,121 average salary per player ($150,983/week)

11. Toronto Raptors, $7,853,384 average salary per player ($151,027/week)

10. New Orleans Pelicans, $7,882,028 average salary per player ($151,597/week)

9. Real Madrid, $8,092,283 average salary per player ($155,621/week)

8. Los Angeles Clippers, $8,331,098 average salary per player ($160,213/week)

7. Portland Trail Blazers, $8,364,772 average salary per player ($160,861/week)

6. Charlotte Hornets, $8,379,766 average salary per player ($161,149/week)

5. PSG (soccer/Paris), $8,414,061 average salary per player ($161,809/week)

4. F.C. Barcelona, $8,576,750 average salary per player ($164,938/week)

3. Golden State Warriors, $8,940,786 average salary per player ($171,938/week)

2. Cleveland Cavaliers, $8,995,628 average salary per player ($172,992/week)

1. Oklahoma City Thunder, $9,295,504 average salary per player ($178,760/week)

This isn’t to say that the listed franchises are worth the most. According to Forbes, the Dallas Cowboys are the most valuable franchise at $4.2 billion, followed by the New York Yankees at $3.7 billion and Manchester United at $3.69 billion. Barcelona is the only team from Forbes’ top 12 to make the top 12 from SportingIntelligence’s survey.

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Jose Breton/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Led by Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan and Serge Ibaka’s respective base salaries of 28,703,704 and $27,739,975 and $20,061,728, it makes sense to see the Raptors on the list. In today’s NBA, it’s tough to win without handing out similar numbers.

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